Blessed

Today is David’s last day of work. (yay!) A few days ago he said that he’s a bit sad. He realized that he’s not going to see the kids or his coworkers every day anymore. When David first started working there we LIVED on the ministry property. We ate three meals a day in the dining hall. While we were buildng our house and had no where to live, they generously offered to rent us a room for a few months. Starting tomorrow he can’t just walk over any time to play with the kids. Now it has to be planned in advance. It will be a hard adjustment. But we know that this was God-s plan.

When we decided that David was going to resign, we put all or trust in God that He will provide for us. I translate when jobs are available, but some month I don’t have any. And now David is switching from a fixed income to an “on demand” job as well: Spanish classes. If he doesn’t have students, we might not have money. In preperation for that possibility I made a budget for the entire year. Each month is a bit different, but here is a basic break down:
Groceries – $50/week (we buy groceies on Sundays, so most months its $200, but a few are $450)
Bills – $50
Gas – $50 (specifically for the motorcycle so David can teach. Gas to go to church in a car comes out of extra money…if we have it.)
Extra – $50 (This just covers those extra expenses that we don’t really think about. Gas to go to church, money for our phones etc)
Special – ? (It varies month to month depending on what special events might be happening. Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc. I tried to take them all into account, so if we have to buy a birthday present for a niece or nephew we’ll have the money ready.)

Our goal was to get a few month ahead with the budget, so that we have a fall back in case we don’t make enough one month. When we make more then we need in one month, it doesnt become extra spending money, the extra money carries over to the next month. Once we are a few months ahead (I would feel safe with 3 month ahead, 6 months would be greeeeat), then any extra money can go to the Phase II House Building Fund.

Going into January David had two Spanish students each taking class twice a week, and one that we were really hoping would like to continue class. Ideally we would like him to have at least eight students taking classes 3 days a week. Literally the day after David submitted his leter of resignation, one of his two confirmed students backed out. (oh, crap!) I tried not to panic. I just gave it up to God. We had our January budget covered, and we were sticking too it. The goal I had in my head was to do enough translating job to get us through to the end of March without having to rely too much on David’s teaching – its going to take a while for him to build a client base, we know that.

And then God started showering down the blessings in response to our obedience. David’s only remaining student asked for 3 classes a week; the student we hoped would start, did; I got an email from someone asking for 3 classes a week starting at the end of February; and I even had a conversation with someone in the States who wold be interested it doing some sort of class over skype (if it’s possible!).

I know, blessed, right? But wait, it doesnt end there!

Earlier this month a friend gave me an envelope and said “God blessed me, and I wanted to share that with you”; then I recieved a generous tip from someone I translated for. Suddenly, after one week of translating we had February covered. Then David told me two days ago that he recieved his liquidacion (severence that is paid out to employees when the leave their job). And boom, we have March covered! God is so good. Today is January 31st, and we already have enough money to get us into April.

Wow. Blessed.

I love that when we step out in Faith, God confirms to us that we are following His purpose by blessing us.. He is saying “See, I told you I had it covered.”

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34

Perspective

I’ve been bouncing this post around in my head for a while now, actually, since July.  But I haven’t sat down and written it out until now.

Disclaimer: this is not a “please feel sorry for us” kinda post. this is a “lets gain some perspective and look at the world beyond our own front door” kinda post.

David and I don´t make very much money. David makes C$3080 a month. When he started at his job 2.5 years ago and the exchange rate was $1US to C$20 cordobas he was making $150 US dollars a month. (Not per day or per week, per month). But since then inflation has decreased that even more.  Now, $1US equals C$24, which means David’s salary has dropped to $125 US dollars a month. That’s $1500 a year.

I make $25 US a day (Sometimes $30 – it depends on the organization) translating for groups. I hope to translate for at least one team a month. Sometimes that doesn’t happen (ex. Nov/Dec = NO TEAMS), other times I have tons of teams all in a row (ex. Jan-March and June-July). On average I bring in about another $125US a month. Our combined income is around $250 dollars month.

But here’s the thing: We’re not poor.

We have a solid house built with blocks and cement, a metal roof over our heads, tile floor, glass windows. We have cable tv,  we have clothes to wear, we eat three meal a day. I have books to read, Bethany has toys to play with, we have electricity and running water. We have a motorcycle, cell phones, shoes, shampoo, and toothpaste. We eat meat at least once a day. We don’t have parasites, skin infections, disease.

We are blessed indeed.

When you look at the numbers, sure, we don’t make much. But when you look at what we have…wow! How could we ask for anything more, when there are so many people who have so much less.

Living in Nicaragua you don’t have to look far to find poverty. Some of our next door neighbours live in scrap houses. Translating for medical clinics I see kids all the time with curable diseases and malnutrition, my own husband spent part of his childhood eating two meals a day. Minimum wage here is less the $100US a month, and there are family with multiple children living on one income. No matter how little you think you have, there is always someone who has less than you.

And here’s the other thing: We’re happy.

We may not go out to restaurants very often, or to the movies, or buy new clothes or toys, but we are happy. I always heard that the number one thing newly-weds fight about is money. Maybe if you don’t have any there’s nothing to fight about? haha. But seriously though, David and I hardly argue over money. We know what our priorities are: 1. Food, 2. Bills, 3. Everything else. As long as we get number 1 & 2 covered, then we can talk about how we want to spend any left over money on number 3.

So why am I telling you all this?

I want to remind you to count your blessings. Its pretty easy to feel down about not having a lot of money, and I do sometimes. I worry when I don’t have work. But then I count my blessings. I make a mental list like the one I wrote out above and remind myself about how much God has provided for us. Then I’m thankful.

I want you to consider what are you “wants” vs. “needs”. Have you ever considered sponsoring a child through an organization like Compassion Int., but then decided that you didn’t have enough money? I bet you have enough. I challenge you to re-evaluate what you NEED and WANT and you can probably free up the $41/month you need to sponsor a child in need.

I want you to remember that you can do so much with what God has given you. When I lived in Canada I always felt like I didn’t have enough even though I made a lot more money then we do now. Now I know that I had more then enough. I could have done so much with the money God blessed me with.

A change in perspective is a good thing.

-Julia

Just a reminder: I have to approved all comments you leave before they are published. So, if you are thinking about writing anything negative, don’t bother – I won’t approve it!